Selective Hearing
by Jillie chan
Summary: Kanan's lost his voice and it's not helping his mood that the others are putting words in his mouth.


Disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to the Star Wars Universe. I hold only the copyright to this fanfic

* * *

It was against Hera's orders for Kanan to be doing maintenance but they couldn't afford to have someone out of commission. Besides, Kanan reasoned, it was only chest cold; Hera was over reacting to what amounted to a slight fever, a cough, and a sore throat. 'Course her main objection was that Kanan couldn't whisper let alone talk, still that wasn't going to keep him from doing his share.

Kanan had dragged the tool box over to him after he discovered the crews' passive aggressive attempts to get him to follow Hera's orders. Like when he wanted Zeb to hand the power couplink he got:

"What was that, Kanan?" Zeb curled a hand around his ear. "Take Chopper to the market and sell him? Okay, I'm not sure he's worth much but I can get a least five credits for him. Sure we can't sell Hera instead?"

Or when he had burned his hand and wanted Sabine to move so he could get the first aid kit she followed his gesture and said:

"You're right, Kanan, a mural would look good on that cabinet. Think Ezra would be willing to pose for a pin-up?"

Or when he shushed Chopper to keep Hera from finding him working the Droid had loudly asked him to repeat that, getting Hera's attention.

And if he thought that Hera was above such childish, playful, aggravating Bantha fodder she looked him right in the eye as he tried to pantomime an explanation and got:

"No, Love, you can't take _all _our credits and bet them in a speeder bike race. What example would that set for the rest of the crew?"

So the crew was no help _what_, _**so**_, _**EVER**_.

Kanan looked up just in time to see Ezra grab the tool box and start walking away with it so he grabbed it with the Force pulling it out of the teens arm.

"You know, Kanan," Ezra smirked, leaning against the bulk head as Kanan went back into the maintenance hole, "you could have just aske-"

"_Finish that sentence,"_ Kanan croaked, "_and I will __**triple**__ your training!"_

Kanan couldn't see Ezra in the tunnel but his light was blocked when the kid swung his head in. "WOW, have you been getting that all day or something?"

Kanan lifted an eyebrow at him.

"That a 'yes'?"

Kanan reached up and not-so-gently shoved Ezra out of his light.

"Hey, no need to take this out on me! You could be lying down right now taking a nap."

"_Kid, I have to finish this_."

"OR, you could ground me and make me do your share of the chores."

Kanan gave a sigh.

"What was that, Kanan? Give into my anger and join the Dark Side? Well you know what's best!"

"_I didn't say anything and you know it!_"

Ezra sighed loudly, "Come on, Kanan, the work's not going anywhere. We can pick up the slack for a while."

Kanan took too deep a breath and his lungs seized because of his chest cold making the Jedi cough. Force that hurt. It was like there were a dozen small scrapes in his throat from all the coughing he had done.

"If you go take a nap I'll bring you a cup of tea!"

"…_That does sound nice…_"

"Great! What flavor do you want?"

Kanan normally would like a cup of Spiran caff but when right now a cup of Marjili with a little cinna sounded divine.

"Okay, one cup of marjili with cinna coming up!" There was some shuffling as Ezra stood up. "And it will be brought to your room!"

Kanan slowly climbed out of the hatch. He must be sicker than he thought; he didn't realize that he had made his decision out loud.

* * *

Kanan jumped when Hera laid a cool hand on his forehead. "Sorry to wake you, Love. Do you feel any better?"

Kanan sat up, feeling a little dizzy but it passed quickly. He took a breath to answer her but it triggered another cough, prompting Hera to rub circles on his back.

"_Does that answer your question?_"

Hera raised an eyebrow at him, though he couldn't blame her. He could barely hear himself. He held up his hand holding his thumb and forefinger apart to show he felt a little better.

Hera opened her mouth to say something when Ezra came in with a thermajug. "Sorry it took so long."

"_It's okay, kid."_ Kanan said, taking the cup from him.

"Yeah. Hey, did you know that mixing blue milk with Jogan juice makes little lumps in the tea?"

Kanan stopped with the cup almost to his lips and pulled it back to peer into the contents.

"Don't worry, Sabine helped," Ezra rubbed the back of his neck. "Because, this _may_ have been my first time making tea."

Kanan gave nod, but he still drank it through his teeth looking for any curdled milk. It was a little sweeter than normal like it had an extra spoon full of sugar in it but was thankfully lump free.

"_Not bad for your first time._"

"Thanks." Ezra gave a shy smile. "How do you feel?"

"_A little worn out. Would be nice if I could quit coughing." _Kanan admitted before letting the warm beverage sooth his throat.

"The tea should help with that and don't worry about your chores. I got 'em." Ezra bent over to gather the tool box that Kanan brought with him to his room by accident. "Hey what were you doing before?"

The kid had caught him with a mouth full of tea. Kanan struggled to swallow the hot liquid so he could tell Ezra about replacing the temporary parts from the patch job for the main lights.

"Got it! Promise the lights will look just as good as if you had done it yourself."

Kanan stared at Ezra as the Padawan left the room. Slowly Kanan turned back to Hera who was watching the whole exchange.

"_Did he just read my thoughts?"_

"Kanan, I still can't understand a word you said."

Kanan sat for a moment. Did he and Ezra really just talk to each other over their bond?

Given the magnitude of that discovery and achievement Kanan did the only thing he could do at the moment.

He finished his tea and went back to sleep.

* * *

A/N: Special thanks to Lothcat for the prompt and betaing for me! The tea blend of "Marjili with cinna" is from Laura of Maychoria's Star Wars stories.


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